Us Delinquents: A James and Lily Story
by siriushpfan
Summary: The Evans move to Godric's Hollow before Lily's 7th year. She finds out that her worst nightmare also lives there: James Potter. Eventually, due to James's love of trouble-making, he and Lily are forced to do time together: community service.
1. Beatles and Bullies

**Us Delinquents**

**Chapter 1**

**Beatles and Bullies**

It was a beautiful autumn day as I took a morning walk around the Black Lake. As the orange, yellow, and red fall leaves drifted onto my coat, they seemed to blend in with my fiery red hair. I loved my morning walks. It was such a relief to be alone, especially without the company of—

"Potter! What are you doing here?" I know you're probably thinking, 'Jeez, she's quite the snappy one. What reason does _she_ have to be inclined to yell at that perfectly innocent boy sitting under a beech tree?' Well I have plenty reasons, my friend. So many reasons, they're coming out my ears. Reasons-a-plenty. Reasons galore! Okay, 'reasons' doesn't sound like a word anymore…but that's beside the point! This 'innocent boy' is not so innocent. Far from it. James Potter is the reason I lost faith in the male species. Alright, I'll explain my reasoning before you start pulling your hair out.

James Potter just started off on the wrong foot with me from day one. Well, it wasn't actually our first day at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, it was probably our…I don't know, maybe the second week, but you see what I—it's a figure of speech, okay?! Anyways, I was leaving Transfiguration one day when I noticed some people from my year gathered in a circle. Not interested in whatever that was happening, I was about to just walk around the crowd to my next class, Charms. That's when I noticed that my friend Severus Snape was one of the kids in the middle of the circle. Two other black-haired boys were opposite him, pointing and laughing.

The boy with glasses nudged his friend. "Sirius, look at his hair. Do you think he knows what shampoo is?" Both kids doubled over in fits of laughter. Severus glared at Bespectacled Boy, both nostrils fully flared.

Then the boy named Sirius, wiping tears from his eyes, said "Jeez! He sure has a nose on him, doesn't he, James?" Sirius left James to his cackling and turned to Severus. "Don'tcha, Snivellus?"

This made James fall all the way to the floor. "HA! Snivellus! That's a good one! I think that one's a keeper, Sirius!"

I couldn't handle this anymore. I wasn't going to watch these two sadistic bullies humiliate my friend any longer. I pushed my way through the crowd until I was also in the opening. I attempted an authoritative voice like Professor McGonagall's. Obviously, I forgot I was no good with crowds. "Hey!" Crap. That was far from authoritative. That sounded like…a mouse. A mouse with throat cancer. Even so, it did catch their attention. James finally regained his dignity and got off the floor and cleared his throat. "Um…hi?"

They both looked confused as to why I was addressing them. Suddenly, I lost the tiny bit of courage I already had. I just wanted to flee to Gryffindor Tower and never show my face again. Okay, that was a little dramatic. But then I took one look at Sev's face. There was a mixture of emotions displayed there: humility, misery, but most of all, anger. I assumed the angry female pose: Hands on hips, thumbs pointed outward, and one leg cocked to the side. "Leave him alone! Who gives you the right to treat him like that?!" This time, there was nothing I could do to stop my voice from echoing off the walls.

They were definitely caught off guard. Sirius was the first to recover. "Well, no one. But someone has to do it, right?" He glanced around at the crowd for back up. Some people chortled, a few nodded. Then I noticed that the boy named James was still staring at me as if he'd never seen anything like me in his entire life.

"What are you staring at?" I growled the question.

"Who are you?" The query sounded more curious than demanding.

"Lily Evans."

"Lily Evans, will you go out with me?" A wide smirk spread across his face and lit up his hazel eyes.

"I—_what_?!"

So there you have it. Ever since that day, I have hated every bone, organ, _and _tendon in James Potter's body. He makes it his life's goal to be noticed by everyone either by messing up his hair every five minutes to make it look like he just got off his broom, or by hexing Slytherins in the corridors. Yes, I know, no one likes the Slytherins, but still, they don't deserve that. Most of the time. Okay, some of the time.

Alright, back to the present. You: 'Huh? What's going on?' Here's a little recap. "Potter! What are you doing here?"

He looked up at me from the shade of his beech tree. "I believe I have every right to be here, thank you very much."

"That's what I thou—" Okay, he got me there. I guess I did jump his case a little. Then I noticed a small book in his hands. My heart leapt to my throat, the blood pounded in my ears. This wasn't the first time this happened. A deep growl rose in my chest. I swear, sometimes people probably think I'm half lion or something. "POTTER! WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH MY DIARY?!" In a fit of rage, I dove forward and tackled him to the ground. Potter, not used to this, became dazed and his hold on the book was slackened. I snatched it from him and flipped it open furiously. Wait a second—since when do I draw pictures in my diary? And even if I would draw pictures in my diary, why would they be of me? I started to examine them closer. One of me by the Gryffindor fireplace. Me in History of Magic. Me studying at the library. Me walking along the Black Lake.

"Care to explain yourself?"

He answered me in a sort of sing-song voice. This confused me. Shouldn't he be fearing my wrath right now? "Can I tell you something?"

"Um…sure?"

"I think you'll understand."

"Oh, you better hope I do."

"I want to hold your hand."

"Ugh, when don't you?"

"And when I touch you I feel happy inside…"

"Sick! Potter, what is your problem?!" I looked down and noticed I was still on top of him, almost straddling him. "Ugh!" I immediately rolled off of him—and onto my bedroom floor. I laid there and groaned for a while, while the Beatles blared from my alarm clock.

"Unnh…owww." I didn't feel like getting up to turn the alarm off, so I just yanked on the cord and unplugged it. "Freaking Beatles…turning my dreams into nightmares…" Lately I had been having a lot of dreams about Hogwarts. But none of them, until now, featured James Potter. That was just unexpected. Oh well. At least the Beatles woke me up before Dream-James could pull a fast one. Deciding lying on my hard wooden floor wasn't supposed to be on my agenda for today, I dragged myself up and navigated my way through what seemed like hundreds of boxes to my bathroom. It was a miracle I hadn't landed on any when I fell off my bed. Sorry, you're probably thinking, 'What? Does she have some weird fascination with cardboard or something? What a fruitcake…' No, my family and I are actually getting ready to move out of our house. You see, my dad was transferred. He was offered a better job in a town called Godric's Hollow. I'm actually quite excited for the move, because there are some wizarding families that live in Godric's Hollow, including my best friend Joanna Abaline.

Joanna is the best. I don't know what I'd do without her. First of all, my rotted body would be decaying on the bottom of the Black Lake right about now. Maybe even being defiled by the giant squid, who knows? As we crossed the lake to Hogwarts in little (unsafe) boats, I thought I saw some huge sea monster swimming underneath us. And yes, I am aware that the Black Lake is indeed a lake, not the sea. But 'sea monster' sounds better than 'lake monster'. You can't argue that. So, I decided to take a closer look at this sea monster and leaned farther over the side of the boat and fell out. Joanna, being the brave psycho she is, went in after me and released me from the determined clutches of the Giant Squid. So, naturally, we've been best friends ever since.

After I got done taking a shower and eating breakfast, I went back to my room to finish packing all of my stuff. When I was finally about done, I heard a knock at my door.

"Come in," I called.

My mum poked her head into my room. "Almost done packing?"  
"Yeah, pretty much."

"You got all your magical stuff? Got your broom thingy?"

"Mum, I don't have a 'broom thingy'. I despise flying. You know I hate heights."

She nodded vaguely. "Well, finish up; we're leaving in about five minutes." She heaved a deep sigh and ran a hand down my doorframe. "Oh, I'm going to miss this house…"

I sighed too. I'd been trying not to think about never seeing this house again. I've lived here my whole life. It almost felt like we were leaving so many memories behind that were attached to this house. "Yeah, I will too…but it's for the better. Just think, soon Dad'll be rakin' in the dough."

"Yeah, you're right. I'll stop depressing you and let you pack." She gave me one last sad look, turned, and left.

As I zipped up my very last suitcase, I heard a horde of rhinos stampede up the stairs. Well, that's what it sounded like. It was obviously my older sister Petunia. I knew this because this happens on many occasions.

"Freak, would you hurry up? We've been waiting for like ten minutes." Total exaggeration. Mum just told me we were leaving in five minutes.

I've gotten used to taking my sister's crap. Ever since I got my acceptance letter to Hogwarts when I was eleven, she has hated me and everything associated with me. It wasn't always like this though. Before I found out I was a witch, we were the best of friends. We did everything together: play at the park, barbies, cops and robbers…all that kid stuff. I'm not sure if her hate originates from fear or humiliation of having an unnatural sister…but sometimes I wonder if jealousy is the root.

"Pet, I'm done packing. Calm down, you'll get wrinkles." I somehow managed to pick up my three suitcases and made my way for the door.

Petunia was practically snarling. "_Don't_ call me that." 'Pet' was always my nickname for her, but these days she wasn't very fond of it.

"Whatever," I sighed. "Let's just go." We both headed downstairs, and out of the house where our parents were waiting. They were staring up at the house, as if they were trying to engrave it in their memories. Okay, this was starting to get ridiculous. "Mum, dad…if this is really affecting you so much, just buy the friggin' house back. Jeez."

They shook themselves out of their reverie, looked at each other, and got into the car. After securing my luggage in the trunk, I did the same. With that, we left our old home behind, and started towards Godric's Hollow.


	2. Sights and Surprises

**Sights and Surprises**

I advise you to never move. All it consists of is packing boxes, lifting boxes, moving boxes, unpacking boxes, and throwing boxes. In my case, anyways. All in all, it's a terrible experience…except for the free cookies.

I was under the impression that people only gave their new neighbors baked goods if (1) it's in a movie, or (2) they're a creeper and actually want to molest your children. But the people welcoming us to their town with their muffins, cookies, and brownies were genuinely nice and actually offered to help us unpack. But mum, being the over-polite person she is, turned them all down. She did accept a dinner invitation from a lady across the street and two houses down, though. I didn't catch her name, but she seemed nice.

I was becoming aware of one thing: if I were to be around this house any longer, I may become a boxaphobic, for lack of a better word. I started the quest of finding my mother in the City of Boxes. I eventually found her talking to the lady that invited us to dinner. As I walked up to them, the Dinner Lady seemed to be taking in my appearance. As if she knew me through someone else and wanted to confirm her own opinion about me. No matter what the case, she seemed satisfied with whatever she saw. Or maybe I was just imagining all of this, I don't know.

Mum was in the middle of an awkward subject. As I waited, she was saying, "Yes, Lily will…um…she'll actually be starting her junior year at a—err—private school in, um, London." My mother was terrible at this.

Dinner Lady seemed amused. She glanced around to check if anyone else was nearby, and then whispered, "Mrs. Evans, it's fine. I know Lily goes to Hogwarts. My son is in her year."

This was definitely good news to Mum. She immediately perked up and dove into a more enthusiastic conversation about how exciting the wizarding world was, and how proud she was of me. I was never going to get out of here if I didn't interrupt now.

"Uh, Mum, would it be okay if I went over to Joanna's for a while? I'm getting a bit claustrophobic in here…"

"What, honey? Oh, sure. Have fun. So as I was saying…I've always wanted to visit Hogwarts ever since Lily got her acceptance letter but, being the muggle I am, that's not likely to be happening…"

Dinner Lady replied, "Actually, there are some special circumstances when you could be able to see Hogwarts. During graduation, some of the protective spells around the castle are taken down so muggle parents can watch their kids graduate…"

Joanna's house was just a few houses down, on the opposite end of the block. While walking to her house, I wondered vaguely who Dinner Lady was. I decided I could wait until the next night at the dinner to find out. Meanwhile, I just wanted to hang out with Joanna. I hadn't seen her since school got out.

In front of Joanna's house now, I knocked on their front door. Almost immediately, it seemed to open on its own accord. Joanna yelled from the kitchen, "Come in!" Just then, I felt a tugging on my jacket. Before I could do anything, it was being pulled off of me by an invisible force and being hung on the coat racket beside the door. I rolled my eyes. Of course, now that we were seventeen, Joanna would be taking advantage of any moment to use magic. I entered the kitchen and found her sitting at the table, eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, wand next to her plate.

I sat in the chair next to her. "Joanna, what if that was a muggle at your door? You should be more careful next time," I chastised.

Joanna tapped one finger to her temple. "Saw you coming."

Wow, I felt stupid. "Oh, duh, of course…"

Did I forget to mention this? Well then, I will now. Joanna—yes, my best friend Joanna—has a little bit of psychic in her. Her grandpa Morton Abaline was—and still is—a great psychic. Joanna isn't a fully-fledged-crazy-prophecy-making kind of psychic, but she does get the random twinges. Only once in a while does it prove to be something of great magnitude, though. Usually it's something completely insignificant, like a vision of breaking a nail or something. Nevertheless, there have been a few times when I've walked into our dorm room at Hogwarts and found her twitching on the floor. Yeah, that's the not-so-fun part of Joanna's clairvoyance.

Joanna was used to my forgetfulness of her psychic abilities, but she feigned hurt feelings anyways. Her face distorted into something that would remind you of a baby about to have a tantrum, and her once luminous almond-shaped eyes were suddenly filled with a terrible sadness that made you want to cry right along with her.

This was what Joanna was exceptionally good at. Anyone who has met her can tell that she would be a wonderful actress. The thing is, there really isn't a need for actors and actresses in the wizarding world. So right now, Joanna isn't sure if she wants to do what she loves but also have to live in the muggle world, or be a healer in the wizarding world. She sometimes helps Madam Pomfrey out in the hospital wing, and seems to have a knack for healing.

I laughed at Joanna's ridiculous face as she started to pretend to bawl like a baby. Satisfied that I was entertained, she converted back to her normal appearance and finished her PB&J. Licking her fingers, she said, "So? How's ol' Godric's Hollow treating ya? Do you like it here?"

"Yeah, I really like it so far. Especially with the free pastries. We even got invited to dinner by some random lady already."

"Well, that was nice of her."

"It was…hey, you should come too. If you want. I'm sure she wouldn't mind, and it'd be nice to have a friend there to sit through my mum bragging about me the whole time. I'm pretty sure Petunia won't be providing me with any consolation…"

"Sure, when is it?"

"Tomorrow night."

With a wink, "I'll be there."

"So when am I gonna get a tour of this place?"

Joanna gasped, her eyes shone with excitement. As an answer, she snatched my hand from the table and hauled me out of the house as if she had some sudden intuition that a bomb was planted in her house.

First she showed me the convenience store, just a few blocks away from her house. I took one look at the half lit up sign displaying 'Godric's Goods' and broke down in a fit of giggles.

Joanna smiled confusedly, looking at me to the sign. She didn't seem to be putting two and two together. I tried to explain between bursts of laughter. "Godric's…goods! It just—sounds—so…so—wrong!"

Joanna's mouth had dropped open. "Oh, come on! I've lived here my whole life and I never even thought about it that way! Maybe you're the one that's wrong in the head."

She had a point. I did have my perverted moments once in a while. Sometimes I thought that Joanna was too innocent for her own good. Finally leaving Godric's Goods, Joanna took me to the park. A little fact about me: I've always loved parks. Swinging, merry-go-rounding (you come up with a better verb), jungle-gyming (JEEZ, just get off my back!), and just lying in the grass looking at the stars at night.

On our walk through the park, we stopped in front of an insanely tall telecommunications tower. (Okay, it wasn't like Empire State Building tall, but it looked humongous from our point of view).

Joanna said wisely, "That's the Horizon Tower. Muggles need it so they can use their walkie-talkie type doohickeys."

"They're called cell phones, Joanna. And I think you mean Verizon." Joanna is such a pureblood. I couldn't help but laugh at my friend's ignorance of the muggle world. "Where should we go next?"

"Hmm…let's go to the town square." Once there, I was shown the post office, the local pub, the church, and the graveyard behind it. And finally, our last stop on my tour was the center of the square. We approached what appeared to be a war memorial. From which war, I wasn't sure. Hell, I have trouble enough staying awake in Professor Binns's History of Magic class; I don't have time to be a muggle-history buff. Anyways, the pretense of this statue faded as we got closer. The faces of the three soldiers wizened and grew beards. Their guns morphed into wands, and wizarding robes replaced their army uniforms. The plaque at their feet now read:

The Peverell Brothers:

Ignotus

Cadmus

Antioch

Joanna said, "Fortunately, this whole town isn't _completely_ claimed by the muggles. Although they don't know it, us wizards have marked our territory, too." Then she saw me reading the plaque and said, "The Peverells were a wizarding family in the medieval times. I think there's some story about them in Beedle the Bard." Intrigued, I made a mental note to look for the book at Flourish and Blotts. Joanna rolled her eyes at me. She must have seen the nerdy gleam in my eye in reaction to the mention of a book.

I decided that I really liked this town. All of the people that we had passed on the square seemed truly friendly. I gathered that this town was one where everyone knew you, but I also got the inkling that it wasn't the kind where your privacy was invaded.

With my tour concluded, I walked Joanna home before I returned to mine. Before she shut the door after her, she said, "I'll be at your house around five!"

Finally home, I just decided to go to bed. It was only about eight, but it had been a long day. I drifted off after hoping dearly there wasn't going to be a sequel to last night's nightmare.

Linoleum. The smell of freshly baked cookies. A clock ticking lazily on the wall. I was in a kitchen. A man calling eagerly from the next room, inquiring something. I answered. An alarm going off—just the oven. Footsteps proceeding into the kitchen. Warm arms around my waist. Lips at my temple. A clatter outside, the back door opening. Nothing at my waist now, except cold air. Footsteps leading away from the kitchen. Panicked shouts, running upstairs—I shot up in bed, covered in sweat. I was breathing heavily, trying to catch my breath. Why am I having all these crazy dreams? I wondered. Am I being drugged while I'm sleeping? Hmm…those mashed potatoes we had a few nights ago did taste a little off…I looked at the luminous alarm clock on my nightstand—1:34…PM? How was I able to sleep for over seventeen hours?? It only felt like seventeen minutes…Wondering how my sleeping schedule got so off course, I took a shower, got dressed, and then went downstairs to make some grilled cheese for breakfast—I mean, lunch. The rest of the day passed with just unpacking boxes. By the time Joanna showed up, we were just getting done.

Joanna looked around at our box free house with a regretful expression. "Oh, Lily, I feel terrible! I didn't even offer to help you guys unpack!"

"I forgive you. Besides, you're doing me a big enough favor by coming to this stupid dinner."

I guess my mum decided that this was the perfect time to walk into the room, and caught the last few words. She said, "What's that, Lily dear?"

"I said…Cupid's a winner! Yeah…the way he flies around shooting love-tipped arrows through peoples' hearts…he's great."

Excitement spread across her face. "You mean Cupid's real? In your world, I mean?"

I rolled my eyes as Joanna tried to suppress a laugh. "No, Mum, Cupid is no more real than Santa Claus is. Sorry to burst your bubble."

She looked disappointed for a while but then said, "Well, it's time to head over to that dinner party…where is your father, anyways?" She started up the stairs, yelling "David!"

Once everyone was finally ready to leave, we all headed down the street toward the dinner party. As we approached, my jaw almost dropped in awe. The house we were walking towards shouldn't even be classified as a house—the word mansion probably covered it. Three stories high and covering maybe half an acre to an acre, this Victorian house was one of the most beautiful I've ever seen.

After Mum rang the doorbell, Dinner Lady threw open the door, a welcoming grin on her face. "Hello, everyone! I see you found the house okay."

It seemed like my dad couldn't get rid of the astonished look on his face. He laughed, "I don't think we could've missed it, really."

Dinner Lady smiled and led us into the large foyer. The polished marble floor under our feet displayed an elegant design. A grand staircase led from both sides of the room up to the second floor. A huge white piano inhabited the corner in the front of the room. The many tall windows accommodated brilliant rays of sunshine to filter through the foyer and glitter on the marble floor. As Dinner Lady took us on a short tour, she informed my parents of the history of the house. I wasn't listening. I could only stare around at the place with envy.

In the dining room now, I saw that the table was already heaped with steaming deliciousness. My mouth started watering just looking at it. Dinner Lady told us all to take a seat, and then excused herself. I heard her go back to the foyer and yell "Boys! Get down here, you two!" up the staircase. Joanna and I glanced excitedly at each other upon hearing this. Oh, give us a break. We're teenage girls, what do you expect?!

As Dinner Lady assumed her seat next to her husband, the boys she had called were thundering down the stairs, laughing raucously. The sound of their laughter reminded me of something I couldn't quite put my finger on. I turned to my mum and whispered to her, "Who are these people anyways?" She raised her eyebrows and replied, "Oh, I never told you? They're the Potters."

My jaw dropped and I managed to hold back what I was about to say: _You've got to be shitting me._


	3. Closets and Confrontations

**Chapter 3**

**Closets and Confrontations**

My thoughts were rapidly turning from "Wow, can I just stay in this awesome house forever?" to "Get me _out of here_!" I turned to Joanna so fast I almost gave myself whiplash. I viciously hissed in her ear, "You didn't tell me James-bloody-Potter lives in Godric's Hollow!"

She whispered back, "Oh, this is _his_ house? Wow, I didn't know he was this rich…" At my murderous glare, she continued, "Well I knew he lived in Godric's Hollow, but I didn't tell you in case you forced your parents not to move here…" Unable to meet the fire in my eyes anymore, she guiltily examined her hands on top of the table. Just then, my two worst nightmares bounded into the dining room as if they were the main attraction. Potter, and his side-kick Sirius Black. Obviously, Potter had no idea it was my family that was coming tonight, because one look at me made him stop in his tracks. After fishing for words for a moment, he finally said, "Lily?" as if I had been abducted by aliens for the past few years and he couldn't quite believe it was me he was seeing. I groaned inwardly as he made his way around the table. Without warning, he hauled me unceremoniously out of my chair and wrapped his arms around me.

"Oh, Lily, Lily, Lily! My Lily Flower!" This caused my parents to stare at us, probably thinking we were going out, and wondering why I never told them. Before I could even spit out an insult and shrug away from him, Potter let go of me and rounded on his mother. "You didn't tell me it was the Evans family that moved here!"

There was a mischievous glint in Mrs. Potter's eyes that I had seen many times in her son's. "Surprise," she said, and winked at him.

I sat back down in my chair as James and Sirius took their seats across from Joanna and me. Sirius was almost beside himself with glee. "Oh, we're all going to be the best of friends! We can go to movies, play tag, eat cookies, have pillow fights, chase rabbits, make Jell-O, and play tag!"

James was staring at Sirius. "Padfoot, you said 'play tag' twice."

Sirius was affronted. He poked James in the chest with a stiff finger and said, "Hey. I _like_ tag."

"…You chase rabbits?" Joanna asked.

"On occasion." He didn't appear ashamed of this peculiar past-time at all.

I said, "We are most definitely _not_ going to be the best of friends."

Sirius now turned to me. Seeing his expression, you would've thought I just crushed all his hopes and dreams. His puppy dog eyes were so effective that I wondered how much he practiced it in the mirror.

Then my dad said, "Your name is Padfoot…?" As James and Sirius laughed at his confusion, Mrs. Potter started apologizing.

"I'm so sorry, where are my manners?" She got up put a hand on James's shoulder and said, "This is James, my son." She put her other hand on Sirius's shoulder and said, "And this is Sirius Black, James's best friend, and the son I never had. He's lived with us for about a year."

Sirius wiped away an imaginary tear. He looked up at Mrs. Potter and said, "That was so touching. Do you want a hug?"

"That's okay, Sirius. Maybe later," Mrs. Potter replied, patting his shoulder, and sat back down.

"No, seriously, we should totally hug right now. That's what people do when they have moments like that. That was a moment." Sirius can be persistent. But obviously Mrs. Potter knew exactly how to handle this.

"Sirius, there's food in front of you."

Sirius's head snapped to his plate. "_Yes, _chicken!" My mum watched in either disgust or interest (I couldn't really tell which) as Sirius horked down a few chicken legs, practically spitting the bones out as he went. I patted my mum's arm and said, "Just try not to look. Look away."

My dad strikes up small talk. "So, are you boys in Gryffindwarf, with Lily and Joanna?"

Pitiful. "Gryffin_dor_, Dad," I corrected. He waves a dismissive hand.

Since Sirius was too occupied with his chicken and his mouth packed to the exploding point, James answered. "Yep, we're all in the same year."

"So you must see each other around sometimes?"

James and I replied at the same time. I said, "Too much," as he said, "Not nearly enough." I glared across the table at him as he winked at me, while running a hand through his hair, messing it up even more than it already was. All parents present must have noticed this exchange, because just then they all seemed to kick into level-five-mortify-mode.

My mother, looking back and forth between James and me, said, "Have you two ever considered going steady? You would just seem so cute together." Upon hearing this, I glared at her incredulously while trying to keep the temperature in my cheeks at a normal degree. Never works. As a result, I probably looked like a pretty pissed off tomato. James, on the other hand, looked as if Christmas came early. Sirius was laughing, which soon turned to choking, due to the enormous amount of food in his mouth.

Still staring at my mother and trying to regulate my temper, I said, "Wow. Are you serious?"

Sirius, in the middle of wiping mashed potatoes off his chin, looked up and said, "Hewt awkin 'oo me?"

Mr. Potter said, "Our boy James is always raving about Lily here." He winks at me. Like father like son, I guess. "It seems like ever since around his third year he hasn't been able to get her pretty face out of his head."

Humiliated, I hid my face in my hands as Joanna rubbed a sympathetic hand on my back. Usually I would be unleashing my rage through screaming, being the hot-tempered redhead I am, but I didn't want to embarrass myself further in front of James's parents. I also didn't want a rumor starting in this town that the Evans girl down the street was a bipolar lunatic. When I finally looked up and my eyes fell on the boy who made my life a living hell, he didn't seem perturbed by the situation at all. I wasn't very surprised. It would take a lot to wipe that proud, self-assured smirk off his face.

James chose his moment to suck up to my parents. He smiled his smile that every girl at Hogwarts seemed to melt for, and said, "Mr. and Mrs. Evans, how could I not fall for your lovely daughter?" Sirius coughed something that sounded like "Brown noser!" James ignored him and went on. "She's the most beautiful, smart, and warm-hearted woman I've ever had the fortune to meet." He turned his hazel eyes onto me, and for the first time, I saw something in them that scared me. Behind the ego that had always been the only thing I could see for the past six years was a frightening yet incorrigible truth. I looked away. His gaze was overwhelming, and I was now too disconcerted to meet it.

My mum interrupted the awkward silence only to make the situation even more awkward. She asked, "Well, have you asked her out? Maybe she'll say yes. She's never had a boyfriend before." I slapped her arm, gave her a 'shut-up-right-now' look, and received a 'what-am-I-doing-wrong?' look in return. I gave it up as a bad job and just decided to wait it out, and stared at the gravy boat.

James answered her question with, "Oh, believe me, Mrs. Evans. I've tried that countless times, and I've recently come to the conclusion that it's never going to persuade her. But let's change the subject...I think we're making Lily uncomfortable."

I looked up in surprise. The weird thing was, he didn't sound sarcastic at all. He was actually being sincere. One cool point for Potter. I said, "Thanks, Potter." My parents gave me a weird look, probably wondering why I didn't use the toe-rag's first name, but fortunately, they didn't say anything about it. I glanced over at Petunia, who seemed to be enjoying my suffering immensely. When she saw me looking, I looked away as her gloating smile transformed into a grimace of hatred. It hit me just then how much I missed her friendship. I couldn't understand why she hated me so much, just because I was different. I could feel the corners of my eyes start to tear up. Before it could get any worse, I said, "Excuse me." My voice started to falter. "Sorry, Mr. and Mrs. Potter." I got up from the table and made for the door.

My dad protested, "Now, Lily, where are you going?" I heard a chair scrape across the wooden floor, but then James said, "It's okay Joanna, I'll go." Out in the hallway now, I searched desperately for an escape. A confrontation with Potter was the last thing I needed. I spotted a door and went inside, hoping it was a closet. It was. Starting to cry now, I felt the doorknob for a locking device. There wasn't. I heard footsteps outside the closet, along with James's voice. "Nice try Lily, I saw you go in there." I grasped the doorknob as it started to turn, and threw all my weight against the door. Of course, it was a fruitless attempt compared to James's. With Quidditch-trained muscles, he easily pushed the door open and stepped inside the closet, closing the door behind him. As he flipped the light switch on, I returned to the door to escape. No doubt Potter would try to seize this opportunity to take advantage of me. But before I could get out, he took my shoulder and turned me around to face him. Then he rotated our positions, until he was in front of the door instead. I was ready with my hand fisted at my side.

He noticed how tense I was and said with a chuckle, "Calm down Lily, I'm not going to snog you in this closet. That's Sirius's forte." I didn't relax. He continued, "I'm sorry about what happened in there. You must have been really embarrassed." And he did look sorry.

Still crying, I managed to say between sobs, "Well—yeah, I—was, but..."

"But what?"

"Never mind." Spill my guts on Potter's shoes? No thanks.

"C'mon, you can tell me."

"No, you—don't need to kn—know about—it."

"About what? Lily, I won't laugh at you or tell anyone else, or whatever it is you're worried about me doing."

"It's not—very interesting."

"You can trust me."

"No."

"Please?"

I tried dodging around him to get to the door, but he was too fast. He caught hold of my arms and held them in front of his chest. I managed to conjure a scathing look through the tears.

"Let me out of this closet. _Now_."

"Not until you tell me. Besides, it was your idea to come in here in the first place."

"Maybe, but I didn't ask for you to follow me."

"Tell me."

"No."

"Tell me."

"_No_."

"Tell me."

"NO!"

"Tell me."

"FINE!"

James smiled, victorious. He let my arms go.

"Ugh, I can't believe I'm telling you this...my sister Petunia and I were really good friends before I got accepted to Hogwarts. But ever since I got my letter, she..." I started crying again, this time harder. "Sh-she hates me s-so much! I n-never did _anything _t-to her. I just w-wish we could b-be friends again." I could tell James was contemplating what would be the safest thing to do as I stood there sobbing. He decided to open his arms to me, offering a hug. At first my automatic thought was to turn away. But, surprisingly, his sympathy was inviting. I thought _Oh, what the heck?_ and wrapped my arms around his waist. One of James's hands was rubbing up and down my back, one stroking my hair. I burrowed my face in his neck, soaking his shirt with tears. I suddenly felt exhausted, and needed to sit down. Pulling James with me, I lowered myself to the floor. We sat like that for who knows how long, with me curled up in between James's legs, and with his arms still wrapped around me. He said nothing as I cried the tears I had had bottled up inside me for so long.

At last, when I finally had control of myself, James said quietly, "She'll come around someday. Maybe not now, but someday she will. There's nothing you can do until then."

I met his hazel eyes with my green ones. "Thank you, James." His eyes widened with disbelief, and his whole face shone with happiness. When he found his voice, he said, "You called me James!"

Oops. I did, didn't I? "What can I say? You deserved it. We'd better go back to the dinner though." James looked extremely reluctant. But after a moment, he nodded and helped me up off the floor. Once we were up, I was seized by an impulse. I inclined my head and kissed his cheek. Now practically euphoric, James said, "What was that for?"

I gestured at his chest. I had cried a river—no, a lake—all over his _Got magic?_ t-shirt. "You deserved it."

A smirk found its way onto James's face. The spark of mischief was back. I sighed. I knew it couldn't have lasted. He drew closer, until he had me backed up against the door. Both of his hands braced the wall on either side of me, and his face was so close to mine that I could almost feel his breath on my lips.

"Since we're already in here, what d'you say we..." Instead of finishing his sentence, he twitched his eyebrows suggestively. I said nothing, and he took that as a yes. He inched slowly forward, but before his lips could brush mine, I slapped him hard across the face. As James jumped back in surprise, hand pressed against his cheek, I turned on the spot and left him standing there, speechless.

What can I say? He deserved it.


	4. Puke and Party Crashers

Later that night after getting back from the Dinner from Hell, I practically ran to the front door as if there was an acromantula hot on my heels. All I wanted to do was lock myself in my room, and burrow under the covers for a few days. The last thing I wanted to do was talk to my parents. Obviously, I'm no good with luck.

As my dad shut the door off to the night, I was already halfway upstairs. He called to me, "Lily, could you come back down here, please?" I froze in my tracks, and then turned slowly around. Petunia smirked as she passed me going upstairs. Descending the stairs, I deliberately took my time down each step. My mother stood there with one hand on her hip, and my father had a foreboding look on his face. As if _I_ had done something wrong.

Now level with them, I said, "Yes?"

"Why did you leave for so long right in the middle of the dinner?" my mum demanded.

My dad said, "It was a little embarrassing, Lily pad. We've only lived here for a few days."

I ignored the unnecessary use of the old nickname and said, "Embarrassing for _you_? You two were the ones humiliating the pants off me! Do you take classes or something? Because you both sure are good at it."

"Oh, Lily, we were just having a little fun. Lighten up," said Mum, punching my arm lightly.

"Well I hope you guys had fun," I said reproachfully. "Can I go up to my room now?"

"Hold on," Mum said, "I want to talk to you about that James boy."

I sighed. "What about him?"

A suggestive smile slid across her face. "Well, he seems like a nice boy. Why don't you give him a chance?"

I scoffed. "Yeah, he might seem innocent, but underneath that pretense is just a self-centered, bullying toe-rag.

My mum winced and said, "That's a little harsh, don't you think?"

"No."

During this, my dad had been silently scrutinizing me. Now he said, "Should I start worrying that you're a lesbian?"

Petunia's shrill hyena-like laugh had no trouble reaching from her room to us downstairs. I was slightly impressed that she could hear our conversation from that distance.

My mum crossed her arms and said, "So when did you formulate this opinion of him?"

"The first day I met him, in first year."

My dad said, "See, maybe he's changed. That was a long time ago, after all."

"Don't let bad first impressions cloud the truth," Mum said. "As a matter of fact, your father and I started out hating each other."

"And look where we are now," he said, snaking an arm around her waist.

I almost gagged, blinded by the mental image of me and Potter together, our arms around each other, just like my parents. "Mum, the day I finally say yes to Potter will be the day I decide to take Quidditch up as a hobby."

"But you're afraid of heights." Of course. _Now_ she remembers.

"Exactly," and with nothing more to say, I continued up the stairs to my room. I changed into pajamas and got into bed. Rolling onto my side, I stared at the pale moonlight filtering through the curtains and reflected on the night I had. Overall, it was definitely a disaster. Was it a rule in the parental handbook to try your hardest to embarrass your children at every available opportunity? I tried to rid these thoughts from my mind. I just wanted to forget that whole dinner. But what I couldn't forget was the look in James's eyes when he confessed to my parents how much he liked me. There was no doubt in my mind now that James didn't pursue me just for the challenge. Which had been my theory for quite some time. But no, he actually has feelings for me. What he did for me in the closet, providing a shoulder to cry on, was evidence enough. Even so, these truths didn't make me feel any better at all. They only proved that breaking James Potter's heart one day would be harder than I thought. Because I knew it had to happen. James's fascination with me had always been unrequited, and always will. There would come a day that I'd have to put an end to it, so he could get on with his life, and I could get on with mine…

Waking up the next morning after a night full of tossing and turning, I wondered what to do with my day, and came to the only conclusion: hang out with Joanna. After getting showered and dressed, I went downstairs to have some breakfast. My dad was reading the newspaper and my mum was at the stove, making him an omelet. Ignoring the both of them, I made some toast and took it to go. Maybe I was being a bit ridiculous, but the more time I was around them right now was too much time.

I arrived at Joanna's only to find her waiting for me on her front doorstep.

Feigning anger, I said, "You know what, sometimes your visions can be an invasion of privacy! Maybe I wanted it to be a surprise that I was going to hang out with you today."

"Oh, you'll get over it…" Grinning, Joanna rubbed her hands together, obviously plotting imminent fun. "What do you want to do today? Wanna go swimming?" She happened to have an in-ground pool in her backyard.

"Yeah, that'll be fun…let me run back to my house to get a swimsuit—"

"Why don't you just use one of mine so you don't have to waste all that time? I have a bunch of them."

"Okay, that'll work." But later, in Joanna's room, I wasn't too keen about the idea anymore. She had pulled out about ten different choices of swimsuits, all two-pieced. Great. I was accustomed to wearing my trusty one piece. I wasn't too fond of breaking the tradition. But I didn't want to go all the way home and back (even though it was just down the street), and I was only going to be seen by Joanna, so I chose the blue and green striped one. We got changed, and then contemplated jumping out her second story window into the pool below, but after a while decided otherwise and took the conventional route. Screaming like hooligans at a rock concert, we ran out of the house and jumped in the pool, laden with noodles and inflatable tubes. We had a competition of Who Can Dive Better? And Who Can Hold Their Breath Underwater Longer? In the middle of a noodle war, just when we really started to have fun, out of nowhere came two wild animals. Well, that's what James and Sirius appeared to be, springing out of what seemed to be their shrub hidey-hole and barreling toward the pool with crazy glints in their eyes. Not to mention they were alerting the whole neighborhood with some kind of Tarzan war cry.

I turned to Joanna, both of our noodles still poised for battle, and said, "Well, it was fun while it lasted," just before we were consumed by a tsunami, water leaping up and out of the pool.

I was pushed under the water by the force of their cannonballs, but in no immediate danger. Of course, Potter must have thought otherwise. Just as I was about to swim to the surface myself, his face loomed out of the blue, and his hands were at my waist, bringing me upward with him. Above the water now, I looked around for Joanna. She surfaced, coughing a little. Hmph. Sirius hadn't taken it upon himself to "rescue" Joanna. He was making his way around the pool with a comical yet oddly effective doggie paddle.

I spat the water that was in my mouth all over James's face. "I didn't need rescuing, Potter, I was perfectly capable by myself."

"Nope, I'm sure you needed me."

"Yeah, your oversized head _would_ cause you to think that."

James scrutinized me thoughtfully. "Just a suggestion. I think you need to come up with some more original insults. Not that I enjoy being insulted by you or anything, because I certainly don't. It just gets a little repetitive. '_Potter, you toe-rag! You egotistical prat! Go deflate your head, you bigheaded git!' _You see what I mean…nice swimsuit by the way."

Before I could come up with a comeback, there was a distraction in the form of Joanna pulling Sirius out of the pool by his ear.

"Ow—ow—ow—OW—_OW!_" Sirius was whining. It looked like a difficult task pulling him out of the water, due to the weight of Sirius's clothes tugging in the other direction. But Joanna was determined.

Once they were both out of the pool, Joanna scolded, "Can't you _read? _No testosterone in my pool! And right now, the testosterone levels are running way too high!" I thought it was a little odd that she asked him if he could read. But then I spotted a large poster hanging up on the side of her house, with "Rules of the Pool" written at the top. I could see that rule number one said, 'No testosterone will be allowed.'

Joanna was now beating Sirius's sides and face with a pool noodle. With every blow, she said "This—is—the—_last_—time! Never—jump—in—my—pool—_again!_" Sirius was curled up on the cement in defeat, like a caterpillar in defense mode. He pretended to be crying and pleaded, "Okay, okay, please sto-o-op!"

Joanna turned toward James with her noodle raised threateningly and pointed at him. "You're next," she said in the creepiest voice possible.

Sirius threw caution to the winds. "_No!_ James! Prongsie, buddy, save yourself! Don't let it get you!"

James's eyes were wide with fear. He pulled himself out of the pool, his clothes hanging off him and dripping everywhere. He dodged Joanna's fierce noodle attack, and ran to Sirius, kneeling at his side. While watching all of this, I realized that it resembled a scene from a war movie, and I couldn't help but laugh.

James grabbed Sirius's drenching shirt collar and shook him a little. "Hang in there, Padfoot. I'm not leaving without you!" James looked over his shoulder as Joanna loomed over them. He shouted "_No!_" and threw himself across Sirius's body as Joanna brought the noodle swishing down, taking the hit for his best friend. Joanna hoisted the noodle once again, but it slipped out of her hands on the descent. Seizing his only chance, James kicked the noodle into the pool and heaved Sirius off of the ground. Then he dragged Sirius onto his back piggyback style, and ran as fast as he could out of Joanna's yard, yelling "Retreat!"

Our fun spoiled, we decided to get dressed and go to the park. Surely the dynamic duo would have tried to defy Joanna's Rules of the Pool again. We swung on the swing set for a while, and then talked on the merry-go-round. While Joanna was talking, I noticed a rustling in the hedges a few feet away.

"I really hope this year at Hogwarts isn't going to be as bad as it seems. Whenever I would see the seventh years around the common room, they were always studying for—"

"Shh! Do you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"That rustling, in those bushes over there."

"It's probably just a rabbit. Anyways, the N.E.W.T's sound like a right pain in the ass, if you ask me."

"I know," I said, "sometimes I have nightmares about it…getting such bad grades that I have to become Ernie's assistant on the Knight Bus for a career…" I shuddered at the thought of it.

"Yeah, that would be a lame job. But hey, you'd never get fat."

"What? How does that work out?"

"Well unless you enjoy being tossed around every few minutes, you'd probably be throwing up all the time."

I said sarcastically, "Oh, then that puts the whole perspective into a new light then."

All of a sudden a loud voice said, "You two wanna throw up?" causing the both of us to jump in shock, almost falling over the side of the merry-go-round. As we composed ourselves and sat upright again, we looked over our shoulders and there was Sirius, a big mischievous grin on his face. Then we turned our heads to the other side of the merry-go-round, and there was James, looking quite the same as Sirius. I felt a sinking sensation in the pit of my stomach. This couldn't end well.

James continued where Sirius left off. "Yeah, I don't know, but…_wanting_ to puke seems a little dodgy. Oh well, I guess, whatever floats your broomstick."

The two of them exchanged a meaningful glance, then laughing, proceeded to push the merry-go-round as fast as they could. As it gained speed, the greens and browns of the trees and bushes blended with the whites and blues of the sky. I held on to one of the bars for dear life, trying my hardest not to hurl. As I screamed threats at the top of my lungs, Joanna kept up an impressive stream of colorful vocabulary. I'd never even heard her use half the words she was screaming right now. Just when I thought I must be about to throw up, I lost my grip on the bar I was clutching and was thrown unceremoniously to the rocks.

Although I was on the ground now, which was quite stationary, it still felt as if I were spinning like a top. As I heard James yell my name in concern, although I could tell he was obviously trying not to laugh, I opened my eyes, just to close them the next second. Everything around me was still a spinning blur. I felt James kneel at my side and heard him say, "Are you okay, Lily?" He then felt obliged to put a hand on my shoulder.

I groaned. "That wasn't funny, Potter." Then, to demonstrate that I was fine and didn't need his help, I got to my feet swiftly. Surprised, he stood up too. I pointed a scolding finger and said, "And don't touch me." I made to turn and walk away from him, but apparently my coordination system wasn't fully intact yet. My legs felt like jelly, and as a result, my knees buckled from under me. Before I could hit the ground, James caught me under the arms. My resolve fading, I sighed. "Fine, just carry me home."

It was ridiculously easy to make Potter happy. A smile lit up his face and he scooped me up bridal style. As he walked with me towards the merry-go-round, we saw that Sirius was still spinning it enthusiastically. Joanna was still screaming profanities, and she was trying to hit Sirius whenever she passed him. It didn't look like she was having much luck.

James tried to get Sirius's attention. "Padfoot! _Padfoot_! SIRIUS!" He finally looked up. "I think that's enough, buddy." Like a child told 'no cookies before dinner', Sirius reluctantly stopped the merry-go-round. Joanna stepped drunkenly off of it and yelled at Sirius, "YOU ARE GOING TO GET IT!" She then launched herself at him, missed by a good five feet, and fell to the ground, causing Sirius to shake with bark-like laughter.

"C'mon, Padfoot, Lily wants to go home," James said to Sirius.

"Of course! Whatever Ickle Lilykins wishes," Sirius said with an exaggerated bow. He then turned to Joanna with his arms held open invitingly. Joanna gave him one contemptuous look, shot up from the ground, and ran as fast as her feet could carry her. Judging from the zigzag route she was taking, I feared that her feet might carry her right into a tree.

I tried to focus my sight on Sirius, but there seemed to be two of him. I closed my eyes again, trying to calm my queasy stomach. "Sirius, go get her before she kills herself!"

"Right-o!" I opened my eyes again. I had to see this.

"Tackle her!" James called to Sirius.

"Shh! Don't give him any ideas!" I reprimanded.

Sirius caught up to Joanna easily, but unfortunately for Sirius, Joanna seemed to be aware of this. After dodging a few sluggishly aimed punches, he managed to get hold of her, and threw her over his shoulder. I didn't think that was a very good idea. Throwing someone that just got off a high-speed merry-go-round over your shoulder didn't seem like the right thing to do.

As James caught up to Sirius and Joanna, I yelled, "Sirius, you are so tactless! What if she—"

James jumped back just in time to miss the hearty stream of vomit issuing from Joanna.

"—pukes?" I finished feebly.

As James roared with laughter, Sirius spun around, trying to see his butt. "Oh, GROSS! _Merlin_, did she get it on my pants?!" He was reacting quite like the average girl. Still trying but failing to see the back of his pants, Sirius kept spinning around feverishly. Joanna was in agony.

"_Nooooo, stoooop!_"

"Are you honestly that thick?!" I yelled. "Stop, before she—" James's cackle was cut short as he dodged yet another projection of throw up. Then Sirius wisely moved Joanna from his shoulder to his arms so he was also carrying her bridal style. The whole way home, Sirius apologized fervently only to get pelted with retorts like 'I hate you' and 'You are _such_ an asshole, Sirius, I swear to Merlin'.

While Sirius and Joanna kept up like that, James smirked down at me and said, "Never know when my amazing Quidditch reflexes will come in handy, eh?"

I merely shrugged and said, "Sure." No need to inflate his already huge ego, although I secretly agreed wholeheartedly. Once we arrived at my doorstep and Joanna and I were set on the ground, we immediately staggered inside.

Standing inside with the door held open, I said, with sarcasm dripping from my voice, "Well…thanks for the nice time…" and slammed the door shut in their smug faces. From the other side of the door, there came the distinctive slap of a high-five.


	5. Towers and Trouble

After locking all my doors and windows, Joanna and I made ourselves comfortable in the living room and started a movie marathon. Some purebloods, not used to this muggle past-time, might find it a waste of time to sit in one spot and stare at a television for so long. Or some could find it annoyingly fascinating. But Joanna and I had always watched movies together, and she had gotten used to my muggle ways. By the time we were half-way through our third movie, _The Sound of Music_, Joanna was out like a light on her side of the couch. I had been trying to fight off my drowsiness for the past half hour, so I decided to surrender. My heavy eyelids wouldn't have been able to stay open much longer anyways. Soon I was half-asleep, pointless dreams starting to formulate in my subconscious mind.

A loud scraping noise ripped me from my dreams, causing me to sit upright in alarm. It had sounded like something sharp had grazed the side of the house. I saw movement out of the corner of my eye, and when I looked past Joanna to the window, I caught a glimpse of a solitary pair of large antlers bob past it. I blinked and shook my head slightly. That couldn't have been right. Given I was half asleep it had to be a hallucination of my groggy mind. But then again, the scraping noise did support the suggestion that there was a rogue deer wandering around my backyard.

I looked over at Joanna. Her mouth wide open, she was snoring quietly. She wasn't going anywhere. Due to the fact that I was still wearing the clothes from yesterday, I didn't have to waste time getting dressed. Slipping on some shoes, I snuck out the front door, closing it silently behind me. I walked all the way around my house, looking for any wild animal with antlers, but found nothing. Deciding that it was a dream after all, I turned to go back inside my house and ran into something solid. I was face to face with—

"Potter! Jeez, you scared the _crap _out of me!" I put my hand over my heart. It was beating as fast as a hummingbird's. "What are you doing sneaking outside my house anyways?" I asked suspiciously.

"Um—I, uh…well, you see—"

"Oh, did you see the deer, too?" It was the only thing that made sense.

"Deer?" He almost sounded offended.

"Yeah, there's something with antlers running around."

"Yeah, I saw it too. It…ran away. I was on my way to the park when I saw it, actually." No way. Me and James Potter, having something in common?

"Do you usually go the park in the middle of the night?"

"Yeah, why?"

"It's just weird…I've always done that too."

"You're just saying that because you want to come with me."

I scoffed, but started walking with him nevertheless. "Don't flatter yourself." I didn't really know why I decided to go with him. I was wide awake now. Why not?

"Looks like I should."

"Really, I was planning to go tonight anyways."

A smug grin formed on his face as he looked at me sideways. "You keep telling yourself that."

I sighed. He was impossible. Once we were at the park, I chose a swing and sat on it. I looked up and saw that James hadn't sat on the one beside me, but just stood in front of me, staring.

"What?" I asked.

He sat down in the next swing and said, "You're in my favorite swing. But it's okay, I'll let it slide. You can have it, just this once."

"Okay, thanks." As we both kicked off the ground, something occurred to me. Ever since I moved to Godric's Hollow, James hadn't asked me to go out with him once. At the dinner party, he did say that he had realized that asking me out constantly wouldn't work, but I didn't know he was serious. I looked over at him, only to see that we were swinging perfectly in sync.

"Hey, Potter."

"Hmm?"

"You haven 't asked me out since sixth year, do you realize that?"

"Do you miss it?"

I felt my cheeks heat up. Good thing it was dark. Why was I even blushing anyway? "No, it's nice."

"You're welcome, then."

After swinging in silence for a while, James turned to me with a boyish smile and said, "Hey, let's jump at the same time. It'll be fun!"

"You really are a kid at heart, aren't you?"

"One…two…THREE!"

I let go, flew through the air, and landed on the rocks next to James. Our legs both buckled beneath us, and we ended up rolling on the ground laughing. I looked sideways at him and said, "You know, you're really not that bad to hang out with."

James looked back at me and smiled. "Well, you've never really tried it, have you?"

"Guess not. It's hard to want to when you're being an insufferable prick and dishing out your arrogant comments."

"Hey, it's just as bad as what you do to me. Honestly, are you trying to break some kind of record of how many insults you can fit in a sentence?"

"If it's escaped your notice, genius, I only do that when you deserve it. You say some pretty inappropriate things sometimes."

"Yeah, I know."

"And I—wait. You _know_?"

James turned his gaze on the stars. I continued to watch his face, which, surprisingly, showed nothing but truth. "I don't really know why, though. It seems like I get word vomit whenever I'm around you, and I feel an unnatural need to say the cockiest things. I try to stop it, but…" He looked back at me and sighed. "I guess I can't help myself."

"Yeah, you should really work on that." I didn't know what else I was supposed to say. So I changed the topic. This one was getting uncomfortable. "So, Sirius has lived with you for a year? I didn't know that."

"Mmhmm. His family is about the worst you'll ever meet. Pureblood loving, muggle hating, Dark Magic followers to the extreme. Sirius couldn't handle it anymore, so he came here. My house has always been more of a home to him anyways."

"He seems to adore your mum."

"Yeah, it's almost sickening."

"Which reminds me—is Sirius as big of a player as he seems to be?"

"Ha! Actually, no. I mean, okay, I admit, he has taken a few of his girlfriends for some broom cupboard escapades, but really. Sirius never really notices nor cares when girls are fawning over him left and right."

"And guys."

James repositioned his body so that he was fully facing me. "Excuse me?" he said incredulously.

"I swear I saw Jerry Fisher staring at him during Transfiguration. Drooling."

"No way! Are you—you're serious? The Ravenclaw keeper?"

"I kid you not."

"Oh, Merlin. I'll have to give Sirius a heads up." Just then James's attention seemed to be drawn to something beyond me. I noticed a red flashing light reflected in his glasses, and looked round to see what it was coming from. About a hundred feet away from us stood the Verizon tower. When I turned back to James to ask him what the heck he was staring at, he wasn't there. Looking around, I finally made out his silhouette heading towards the tower. Before his figure was totally consumed by the night, I got up and went after him. I had known James Potter for six years; I had an idea of what he might be up to, ridiculous as it may be.

Now about a foot behind him, I said, "You're not thinking of climbing that, are you?"

Over his shoulder, he said, "Yep."

After a moment of sputtering, I said, "Why?"

"Obvious, isn't it? Looks like fun. I've always wanted to." He's crazy. No way is he doing this. I grabbed at his arm in the hope of slowing him down. Instead, he abruptly stopped in his tracks at my touch, causing me to run right into him. Suddenly I found myself face to face with him, his nose almost touching mine. I could see excitement and mockery mixed in with his hazel eyes.

"You putting the moves on me, Evans?"

Before I could voice my distaste, I was distracted by a pair of headlights sweeping around the corner on the far end of the block. As it approached the park, I thought I could almost make out the labeling on the side of the car that read _Sheriff_. Before I could even start freaking out about us being out so late, James dragged me by the hand into the nearest bush.

"What the _hell_ are you—?"

"It's a cop, Lily. Did you want to get caught out this late?"

"Well, no, but I didn't want to get stickaburs permanently embedded in my skin either," I snapped, removing a particularly nasty one from my palm.

"Anyways, this town rarely sees any action, unless it's me and Sirius. Of course, they never catch us, though they'd really love to. But usually they're so bored they look for excuses to use their authority."

"Exactly! So let's not cross them. Let's both just go home," I said, still brushing twigs and leaves from my sleeves.

Chuckling, James looked me over. I must've been covered in stickaburs. He was too.

"You have some in your hair." I patted my hair down, searching for it, but couldn't find it.

"I'll get it," James said, and he lifted a hand and plucked them out one by one. I decided that since he was paying me this unexpected kindness, I might as well return the favor. My fingers explored his unruly mass of black hair, removing the grass and stickaburs. He looked quite surprised at first, but we didn't stop. After a while, I started to laugh.

James smiled, "What?"

"We're like monkeys."

"True, but sexy monkeys."

I rolled my eyes. "Sure."

"So you do think I'm sexy?" he demanded, his eyes boring into mine. I noticed then that we were much too close. That seemed to be happening a lot lately.

"I'm sure the cop is gone by now."

The reminder of his incomplete adventure etched excitement into his features. He immediately shot out of the bush, sending leaves flying. He _couldn't_ still be thinking about doing this!

Running after him again, I called after him, "Do you have a death wish? You don't have any equipment, you'll fall!"

"Since when do you care about my safety?"

"What, do you think I'm cold-hearted or something?"

"Most of the time, yeah." We were now at the foot of the tower, which was surrounded by a tall fence, the entrance padlocked. A pool of light emanated from a small light bulb above our heads.

"Ha! You can't even get to it! Now, let's go before someone looks out their window and turns us in."

Giving me a look that plainly said he was about to school me, James said, "I'm a Marauder, Lily. Marauders never quit." And with that, he flung himself to the ground on all fours, and started to dig.

"Are you kidding me? You're impossible!" I started to pace, going over my options. There was really no stopping him. I could either leave him here and later feel responsible for his death, or try desperately to make him reconsider. I decided on the latter. I really wasn't as cold-hearted as he made me out to be.

I turned back towards James to start on my quest only to watch his legs already disappearing through the sizeable hole gaping underneath the fence. Paranoid now, looking around at the houses across the street, I dove for the hole and squeezed through.

As I got to my feet, brushing dirt from my pants, James said, "Decided to join me, eh? Knew you couldn't resist your wild side."

"No, I most definitely am not! I just didn't want to get caught out there by myself."

"Suit yourself," he shrugged. Turning to the tiny, dangerous-looking ladder, he mounted it, saying, "I can't believe Sirius and I haven't done this yet."

Five rungs up. "Potter! Are you _trying _to get in trouble? Or killed for that matter?" I can't believe he's doing this. I know James has a fascination with pranks and adventures, but this was going way too far…

He called down from ten rungs up, "Maybe I'll think about coming down if you stop calling me by my surname!"

"Fine! Get down from there now, Dimwit!"

"You know perfectly well what I meant!" He continued climbing. A foot slipped, but he regained his balance instantly. Still, my already irregular heartbeat hammered even harder.

I managed to rid my voice of all anger and said, "Please come down, James."

From twenty rungs up, James stopped. He turned his head to look down at me, and I could just see a plan forming in his mind. Whatever he was thinking, it seemed to cause him some debate.

Finally, giving the impression of stealing himself, he said, "I'll come down if you kiss me." Holding his breath, he watched for my reaction.

Kiss James Potter? My sworn enemy? No stinkin' way!

Then why wasn't I saying no?

Maybe because in the last few days I've realized that James is, in fact, _not_ my sworn enemy. He really wasn't that bad of a person, and one kiss wouldn't be the end of the world. I'm not saying that I'm going to accept his request to go out with him and snog him senseless every chance I get. But if one meaningless kiss was enough to get him down safely from the tower and keep us out of trouble, I decided to take it.

"Hello? Lily? Are you awake down there?"

"F-fine. I'll do it. But just this once. It'll never happen again, Potter."

He cleared his throat loudly.

"Sorry," I said, "I meant—It'll never happen again, _James._"

Practically radiating excitement, he descended the tiny ladder, slipping here and there in his haste. Watching him, I just knew he would fall and break something. I didn't know how to mend bones yet—I would have to carry him back to his house, three blocks away. Just when I remembered that I could just levitate him back, James jumped from the last rung and stood expectantly before me.

_Oh, Merlin. This is it. This is going against everything I've ever believed in._ I held my breath as I heard James's quicken. His slightly glazed hazel eyes seemed to immobilize me, and he put one hand on my waist, one behind my neck. Shivers were sent down my spine; they were shivers of repulsion. Of course they were, what else could they be? With a last grimace at his smug face, I closed my eyes. It would be over soon. James seemed nervous, which is a state one usually never found him in. But now, as he leaned ever closer, his jagged breath played across my face as his lips lightly brushed mine—

Distant sirens. But gradually getting louder and louder. At first, as James and I broke away from each other, rooted to the spot, I wondered whether a house was on fire. But then, frantically looking every which way, I saw a pair of headlights along with flashes of red and blue whip around the corner and come speeding towards the entrance of the park, kicking up gravel as it went. As the patrol car turned abruptly into the park, sirens blaring, going so fast it was a wonder it stayed on all wheels, James seized my hand and pulled me into the shadows behind the maintenance shed.

About twenty feet from the fence inclosing us came the sound of the car stopping haphazardly, causing dust to billow in clouds, blurring the whites of the headlights, and the strobes of red and blue.

Now both of our breathing quickened tenfold, James and I looked at each other. I knew the alarm displayed on his face was nothing compared to the downright _I'm-gonna-piss-my-pants _terror etched onto my own.

Then came the _clunk _of a car door popping open. The foreboding _crunch_ of boots against gravel. The indistinct garble of static from a CB radio. My heart jumped around in my throat as the beam of a flashlight probed around the base of the tower, looking for anything—or anyone—out of place. The low grumble of a second police officer's voice, seeming to come from the idling patrol car.

"Find 'em yet, Murphy? Or d'you think the ol' bat nextdoor is jus' off her rocker?" said Rumbly-Voice, sounding almost bored.

"No, I haven't, and no thanks to your lazy arse," complained Murphy. It sounded like he'd been through this ritual a few times before. "I know you're not happy with the arrangement, Turner, but the Chief made us a team, so I'd appreciate if you'd start pulling your weight."

There was a grunt and a slight creaking of metal as Turner heaved himself reluctantly out of the car. His crunching footsteps sounded a bit heavier, and clumsy. He grumbled, "Alright, alright. Hold yer horses."

My pounding heart still seemed as if it were trying to escape through the esophagus as I desperately hoped the cops wouldn't search the tower as thoroughly as they undoubtedly would. My deluded mind whipped up a preferable scenario. _Doesn't look like anyone's here, Turner. Let's just go back to the station, then. Donuts on me. _I fought a mad desire to laugh, and looked toward James. I must have been smiling, because his widened eyes and fisted hands relaxed slightly, and he gave me an incredulous look. I couldn't blame him; even I couldn't fathom how I'd be able to laugh in this situation.

With a series of blundering footfalls, Officer Turner huffed into sight around the corner of the shed, surprisingly sans donut. His small eyes, which were set slightly close together, widened with excitement at the sight of us.

"Murphy! _Murphy_! I found 'em! They hid behin' this shed, snoggin', no doubt."

If I hadn't been frozen in fear at this moment, Turner's declaration would have been met by a fiercely indignant retort from me. Instead, I only trembled from head to foot beside James.

Murphy rounded the corner, slightly out of breath. In contrast to Officer Turner's excitement, he was all business. Hiking his belt up and glaring at the both of us, he shouted, "Alright, hands against the wall!"

James and I exchanged bewildered glances and flattened our hands against the cold bricks. Officer Murphy stared at us as if we were the stupidest people alive.

"Are you kidding? Face the wall!" he bellowed. He really didn't take his job lightly.

Jumping in shock, embarrassed, I spun around to face the wall, my hands bracing it. James did so reluctantly, even sniggering a little. I threw him the dirtiest look I could muster, loaded with all the hatred I was feeling toward him at that moment. This was all his fault.

The two cops were now frisking us. How was that necessary? While Turner patted James down, James glared over at Murphy's hands as they roamed up and down my own body. It looked like he was about to say something, but fortunately he refrained.

After the frisking was done, Murphy said, "Now, hands behind your backs."

My fear escalated even higher, but I was also indignant. Did they seriously think that they needed to cuff us? Just then my suspicions proved true as I felt the cold metal clamp down on my wrists and I heard another pair click into place around James's hands. As we were walked, or pushed rather, around the utility shed and toward the patrol car, Murphy addressed us with his purposely deepened voice.

"You two hooligans thought it'd be funny to abuse a valuable and expensive piece of machinery?" he demanded.

"Valuable _and_ expensive!" echoed Turner. Judging by Murphy's glare, he didn't much appreciate this unnecessary interjection.

We were at the patrol car now, and I was shoved into the backseat. But before Murphy had time to do the same to James, James said, "Don't you think it was a bit overkill with the lights and sirens, mate?" From inside the car, I watched the red and blue lights reflecting across Murphy's face as he searched for an answer. He didn't seem to have one.

James continued, "Right, I s'pose you had nothing else to do. That's what I thought. Hit the jackpot tonight, didn't you?"

Murphy had enough. He said, "Get in there!", jostled James into the car, and shut the door on us. I took my chance, my voice quavering with rage.

"_James Potter._ Look what you got us into! I _told_ you not to climb it, but no, you always have to think of what a _Marauder_ would do! When will you ever grow up?" He didn't answer, but it seemed to me that he was closer than before. It was probably just my imagination. "You should probably think about listening to me once in a while, because in case you haven't noticed, I usually turn out to be right! Scratch that, not usually, _all_ the—"

I wasn't able to continue, because James's mouth was blocking my own. I was frozen in shock; my brain was moving much slower than usual. Finally when I registered _who _was kissing me, I tried slap him, or at least shove him off of me. But, of course, my hands were handcuffed behind my back. James must have sensed that I was trying to get away from him, because he became more persistent, his mouth pressing slightly harder into mine, but surprisingly gentle still.

I found my mind protesting furiously, but my mouth not complying. When James's tongue parted my lips, I didn't object. His mouth moved with mine, finding the places where they harmonized, our breathing in sync.

Just as he pulled away to move his mouth down the side of my neck, I finally managed to reorganize my priorities and fend him off.

Between heavy breaths, I said, "Why—why the bloody _hell_—did you decide to do that?"

"Because you look good in handcuffs." What a prick! "And besides, you owed me one, remember? But I pose a question to you—why the bloody hell did you decide to kiss me back?"

This drove the handcuff remark right out of my mind. I searched for an answer…even I didn't know. So I just settled for a lie.

"I did not!"

"You've got to be—you totally did!"

"You must have been hallucinating."

"Well, it was a pretty convincing hallucination then."

"Why on _earth_ would I ever kiss you, Potter?" I spat.

"Search me! That's what I'm trying to figure out!"

Before our somewhat childish argument could reach name-calling and hair-pulling, Murphy and Turner were back, settling into the front seat.

Murphy turned his fierce gaze on the both of us, but was interrupted by Turner. "Ready to hear yer sentences?"

Murphy rolled his eyes. "First of all, you will each have to pay five hundred dollars for trespassing."

"Trespassin'," supplied Turner.

"As for your punishment—community service."

"Community service!"

"Shut _up_, Turner." He turned back to us. My mouth was probably hanging open a mile. "Eighty hours. Which means every Saturday for the rest of the summer."

"Every Saturday."

As both cops began to bicker about something, I was lost in my troubled thoughts. Community service for the rest of the month? That had to be a joke. But then as Murphy asked for James's address, something clicked and hit bottom.

"Wait—_together_?!"

Murphy was surprised. He stared, not comprehending. I pointed to myself, and then to James.

"We're going to be spending every Saturday…together?"

He scoffed. "Well, yeah, of course you're doing it together."

Turner turned all the way around in his seat to face me, a condemning gleam in his beady eyes and a mocking grin drawn across his face.

"Together."

I groaned in defeat as James bounced happily in his seat. "This is going to be the best summer _ever_!"


	6. Newcomers and Nudity

"Avis."

Twirling my wand in my hands, I watched the lone golden canary flutter around my ceiling from where I was lying on my bed. Joanna was standing at the window, engrossed in who knows what.

Without turning to look at me, she said, trying to keep the laughter out of her voice, "I just can't believe it. Community service…with your worst enemy…for the rest of the month!"

"Joanna, saying it over and over again won't alter my fate…I'd rather not think about it right now anyways." What I was really trying to avoid thinking about was that bloody kiss. I hadn't told Joanna about it, but I knew that I probably should before she got the news from someone else, aka James. And, knowing him, his recollections of what happened would most likely be distorted. Yes, I was almost certain that he would probably tell anyone who would listen how he seduced me into letting him feel me up.

I followed the canary with my eyes as it came to a stop, perching on the windowsill inches from Joanna's hand. The little bird turned its head this way and that, trying to get a good look at Joanna's fingernails. All of a sudden her hand gave a slight spasm, causing the canary to take flight once again in a flurry of wings. My heart jumped and I sat up on my bed as Joanna's fingers clutched the windowsill, her knuckles whitening. Her head bowed and her chin fell to her chest.

Almost as quickly as it happened, Joanna returned to reality and turned around to face me. Walking over to sit with me on the bed, she said, "Don't look too excited. Nothing particularly interesting. Just someone getting off the Knight Bus. I couldn't see who it was, though."

Before I could even answer, the telltale BANG came from outside, literally shaking my whole house. Joanna and I rushed to the previously vacated window just in time to see a blur of purple rushing pell-mell down the street, scattering trees and mailboxes from its path. The few muggles that were out for a stroll were oblivious and only continued to mosey on. Next second, the Knight Bus was completely stationary right in front of the Potter residence. After maybe half a minute, there was another earth-shaking BANG and the Knight Bus was two blocks down and around the corner.

The lone figure that had been left behind seemed to be swaying on the spot. He stooped down, turned over his suitcase, and sat on it with his head between his knees.

"Poor bloke. Yeah, the Knight Bus can do that to you," laughed Joanna.

Before the newcomer could gather up his belongings and pull himself together, there was a tornado bursting out of the front door in the form of James and Sirius. Their jubilant cries of "MOONY!" could probably be heard from anywhere in the neighborhood.

"Oh. Of course, it's Remus," I said.

"Yep. Who else could it have been?"

"It could have been Peter." Joanna and I exchanged wide-eyed looks of repulsion.

"Yeah, let's be grateful it's Remus," said Joanna, turning back to the window. Sirius, overjoyed, seemed to be giving Remus a noogie while James appeared to be recounting something, waving his arms animatedly. No doubt he was giving Remus a play-by-play of last night's events.

Joanna had been watching James's emphatic arm movements too. She said, "James looks like he's on a rant or something…I wonder what he's talking about?"

I sighed. The time had come. "He's probably talking about what happened last night…"

Joanna, still watching James miming climbing a ladder, nodded. "Oh, yeah. That makes sense."

"Yep…I wonder what Remus's reaction will be when he finds out we kissed."

"Well, I imagine he'll be very sur—WHAT?" She finally wrenched her gaze from James, who now had his hands behind his back, pretending they were cuffed. Joanna's brown eyes were round as Galleons, and I was pretty sure that if her jaw dropped any further, it would soon become detached.

I recounted the police car scene and told her everything that I had skipped over before. I told her how James had cut me off in the middle of a rant, but I also told her how I had failed to pull away at first.

Joanna was speechless for a while. During the silence, we both turned our gazes back the Potters' front lawn, and could actually hear Remus's incredulous cry, distant but intelligible, of "What? No way!" As James commenced a very enthusiastic victory dance, Joanna finally turned back to me, shaking her head.

"I don't even know what to say. Before, you would have sawed his lips off with a dull butter knife if he even so much as puckered them towards you."

"Joanna, I was _handcuffed_. That has to make some difference."

"Well…I suppose." With what I thought was actually hope in her eyes, she said, "Does this mean you're going to consider being civil to them from now on? Maybe even try to be friendly?"

"Erm, I dunno," I said, a little caught off-guard. "Maybe."

"Think about it, Lily. How excruciating would your summer turn out to be if you didn't try to at least have a _little_ fun during community service?"

I gave Joanna an incredulous stare. "How can community service even come close to being _fun_?"

Joanna didn't let this pessimism damper her high hopes and said, "Lily…life is what you make it."

I rolled my eyes. "Okay, Confucius."

"Really, Lily. Have you ever considered that you may be able to get along with James if you just tried?"

Sighing, I watched the three boys across the street as they made their way up the walk to the Potters' house. "That's the problem, Joanna. I don't want to try." In order to avoid Joanna's reproachful eyes, I kept my own focused on the Marauders. Sirius led the way into the house, followed by Remus. But James paused on the doorstep, one hand on the doorknob. Looking over his shoulder, I was almost convinced that his eyes were trained on the very window Joanna and me were standing in. My suspicions were proved true when he raised a hesitant hand and gave a small wave. I didn't wave back, and James, looking disappointed, disappeared into the house. Joanna didn't seem to have noticed the unrequited wave; she was still staring at me avidly. She wasn't going to let this go.

"You don't want to try. Right. Is this the Lily from first year talking, then?"

"No, this is rational Lily talking." There was a sudden rustle next to my ear; the little golden canary that I had almost forgotten about had landed lightly on my shoulder, and was now plucking at strands of my hair. Unlocking the window, I opened it wide, admitting a warm summer breeze into the room. The canary's attention was instantly caught by the many chirps of his fellows, and the next second he was already swooping out the window to join them.

I glanced over at Joanna. Her warm brown eyes were still focused on me, waiting patiently for me to explain my rational reasoning. I sighed, and gave in.

"How would it be if I decided to start being friendly to James?"

"Not all that bad."

"How would it be if this friendliness started to lead him on? If James misinterpreted it for actual feelings towards him?"

Joanna didn't have an answer.

"He would start to like me even more—"

Joanna scoffed. "Impossible."

"—and he would get his hopes up. He would get his hopes up, and be crushed in the end. I know James has an infatuation with me, anyone could see that much. I'm not going to try to force myself to like him back. I'm not going to be the one to break his heart with even more efficiency by giving him false hopes."

What was in Joanna's eyes now was astonishment, mixed with some shame. Her features became troubled. "Oh, Lily, I had no idea. I feel so stupid now."

I gave her a reassuring smile. "Don't. It's fine."

After this somewhat intense revelation, Joanna didn't seem too keen on bringing up the subject again. Instead, she suggested, "Well, how about we go see Remus?"

"Sure, why not?" Yes, it was true that I didn't want to see James right now, but getting to visit with Remus was worth it. He was the only Marauder that Joanna and I could get along with.

By the sudden excitement that spread across Joanna's face, she apparently was just bestowed with a brilliant idea. "I bet I can beat you there!"

An abrupt childish impulse seemed to wash over me then, and I made a break for my bedroom door. Before I could even dive for the handle, a resounding _CRACK_ filled the room, causing me to duck in alarm. Confused, I looked around to see what object Joanna had thrown at me, and was disconcerted when I couldn't see her anywhere.

"What the heck?" I said to myself. "How did she—OH!" Extreme blonde moment. Usually don't get those. After smacking myself in the forehead, I tried to remember in detail the Potters' foyer—marble floor, piano in the corner, rays of sunshine everywhere—and spun on my heel, feeling the uncomfortable nothingness close in on me. And then I felt solid ground under my feet again, and opened my eyes to see if I reached the correct destination.

I was in a long, wide corridor with doors spanning the length of both walls. There was the occasional expensive-looking scenic painting, and a fancy chandelier hanging above. _Crap_, I thought, _is this the right house?_ The lavishness of the furnishings implied that I was most likely in James's house, but I couldn't be sure; I had only been acquainted with the first floor. Looking out a window, my suspicions proved true: I was on the second floor. Still, I shuddered at the thought of how mortifying it would be if I was caught sneaking around some random person's house. With my luck, it would be a muggle's, suspicious questions would be asked, shifty answers would be given.

Just as I reached the conclusion of simply disapparating back to my own house, a door to my left was suddenly flung open, and standing right in front of me was a sight I never thought I would have to see: a soaking wet James in nothing but a fuzzy white towel. He didn't have his glasses on, so he squinted at me for a while until he could make out who I was. When he did, a blush tinted his cheeks and he clutched the towel around his waist tighter.

"Oh—err—Lily. I wasn't, uh—expecting you here…erm, outside my bathroom…" Then his hand jumped to the dripping mass that was his hair and gave it his trademark rumple, which culminated in water being flung every which way.

As I brushed the speckles of water from my face, I tried to think of something to say. Oddly enough, James's half-nakedness seemed to be clouding my mind. I felt the tell-tale warmth creep onto my own face as I tried to explain, "You see…er, I was just, uh—"

"Stalking me?" James seemed to interpret my obvious discomfort in a way that would take the pressure off of him. He was in his element now.

Finding my words, I finally got out, "No, I am not _stalking_ you. Joanna and I just wanted to see Remus—"

"Uh huh. Nice cover story."

"—so I guess Joanna decided it would take far too long to just walk here, and when I went to apparate after her, I—"

"Thought of me in all my nakedness and ended up here." He ignored my angry retorts and went on, "It's okay, Lily, don't beat yourself up. You were only a little off your mark, just a few more feet and you would have been able to satisfy your peeping Tom desires."

I took a few steadying breaths to ready myself for the coming storm. But before I could start screaming, we could hear someone coming up the stairs, and a voice yelling, "Prongs, did you fall asleep in the shower _again_? You should really stop doing that, especially with what happened last time—oh. Er…Hi, Lily." Remus froze in his tracks, absorbing the sight before him. The faint ghost of a sly smile began to grow on his tired face. _Great_, I thought, _you know the situation gets bad when even Remus shows his inner Marauder._

I decided to try to delay the inevitable by distracting them with conversation and said, "Erm—James, why were you taking a shower in the middle of the day anyways? I'd have thought you'd be spending time with Remus."

James's jaw locked up and a trace of annoyance seemed to flicker in his eyes as he pointed furiously at his friend. "He made me do it!"

I turned to Remus to see him standing there with his arms folded, with an expression that might usually be used on a tenacious three-year-old. "James, do you really think I was about to let you go un-bathed for the rest of your life?"

"Why would you want to do that?" I asked incredulously.

"He wanted to keep 'the scent of Lily' on him forever," Remus answered for him, using air quotes.

This was one subject I did _not_ want to venture into, and even James looked a little uncomfortable. I casted around for an escape and said, "I'm gonna go find Joanna…"

James once again put his hand in his hair to rumple it up and noticed that it was now almost completely dry. "I should probably get dressed anyways," he said, and retreated into his bedroom.

Remus joined me going down the stairs and said, "So you and James, community service." I groaned in reply. "When's your first day?"

"Day after tomorrow. Saturday."

"The best of luck with that." Oh, Remus. He's always understood me.

"Thanks. I'm going to need it…so how long are you here for?"

"The rest of the summer."

"What do you guys do when…you know, things get hairy?"

Remus laughed. "Lily, you don't have to speak in code, everyone in this house knows that I'm a werewolf."

We were in the foyer now. I glanced around avidly, as if expecting Joanna to pop out of a potted plant. I hissed, "Shh! Not Joanna!"

Remus's eyes widened. "Oh, that's right! I always forget you never told her."

"Did you expect me to?"

"Well…yeah, I guess. You two are best friends."

"It's not my secret to tell. I'll tell her if you give me permission, though."

An almost panicked look flickered in his eyes for a second, and then he said, "No, no. That's alright, you don't have to tell her." I would have asked for Remus's reasoning for not letting Joanna in on the secret, but we were now walking into the kitchen, so I dropped the matter.

At first glance, it seemed that Sirius and Joanna were merely sitting quietly together at the kitchen table, but when I looked closer, there seemed to be an air of awkwardness. Sirius's gaze was all but penetrating Joanna's soul, and the latter was staring fixedly at the table.

Remus cleared his throat and said, "James didn't drown in the shower, he was just…talking to Lily."

Joanna finally wrenched her gaze from the table and looked at me with enormous gratitude written all over her face. She had obviously needed saving.

With gritted teeth, Joanna said, "Why were you upstairs talking to James, Lily? Why didn't you apparate into the kitchen?"

"Oh, you know. I just _needed_ to see James's naked, soaking wet body," I said, with sarcasm dripping from my voice. And, of course, that was when James decided to make his entrance, fully clothed now. I sighed. Fate had it out for me.

"I KNEW it!" James pointed wildly at me, with a ridiculously smug smile on his face.

I scoffed and said, "I was being sarcastic and you know it, Potter."

So for the next five minutes, we did our catching up with Remus as Sirius occasionally glanced back to Joanna every so often and James, giving up all pretense, continually stared at me. At this point, the situation had reached a new height of awkward, and I decided we should get out of there.

"Well, we should probably go. It was nice seeing you, Remus," I said. Joanna jumped up so fast you would've thought she'd been sitting on hot coals. As we headed for the front door, James followed and protested.

"You're already leaving? But you just got here." I almost felt sorry looking into his currently sad hazel eyes and downcast features.

"Uh…sorry, James. We just came to catch up with Remus." James turned around to see Remus hovering in the kitchen doorway, looking a bit ashamed.

James turned back to me once more. "Right. Of course. Well, bye then," he said, and sadly watched us go.

On the walk back to my house, I asked Joanna what had happened between her and Sirius.

"Ugh, it was terrible. He was blatantly hitting on me, asked if I was single and all that. Said he hopes he'll see me at the end of the summer party."

"What end of the summer party?"

"Oh, the Marauders always throw a party at James's house before we go back to school. They don't really invite anyone, it's usually just them. I've shown up a few times before but I usually just leave because of the overbearing testosterone levels."

"But now Sirius is going to want you to stay, eh?"

"Looks like it," she sighed. "I don't understand it, though. He's never paid much attention to me before, I don't know why he's decided to now all of a sudden…hopefully it'll just blow over soon."

"Yeah, that's what I thought in third year when James started taking a fancy to me. I was obviously wrong."

Joanna sighed once again. "It'd be nice to attract a guy that _isn't_ a Marauder."

"Welcome to my world." What sounded like a large truck made me look up from watching the sidewalk beneath my feet. It turned out to be what looked like a moving van; as the vehicle passed us, I saw the words 'Powell & Boyd Moving Co.' printed on the side. Directly behind the van followed a white Honda. The back passenger window was rolled down with a boy of about seventeen or eighteen staring out of it, his shaggy golden hair being tossed gently by the wind. His dark, piercing eyes found mine and held their mysterious gaze the whole while the car was passing Joanna and me.


	7. Muggle and Malevolence

You know the feeling you get when the obnoxious beeping of your alarm clock wheedles its way into the pleasant reveries of your dreams? I'm sure you do. It's the one where you try in vain to sink back into the warmth of your bed, and will yourself to fall back asleep for at least another hour. But this morning, for me, was considerably worse than the average wake-up call was. First of all, it had a lot to do with the fact that the blaring _BEEP-BEEP, BEEP-BEEP, BEEEEP!_'s issuing from my bedside table were accompanied with something even worse. _Much_ worse—Petunia's screeching voice drifting easily through the wall from her bedroom just next-door.

"_FREAAAK! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU? IT'S FREAKING SATURDAY, TURN THAT BLOODY ALARM CLOCK OFF BEFORE I COME IN THERE AND BEAT YOU OVER THE HEAD WITH IT!_"

And then, as if the demon-cow of a sister hadn't gotten her point across already, she commenced the ever-intimidating wall pounding. I looked upside-down at the wall behind me just in time to see my framed Hogwarts acceptance letter quiver precariously and then fall free of the nail. After quickly rolling over to avoid it—and not to mention an unwelcome bruise to the forehead—I snatched up my wand and pointed it at the still-blaring alarm clock…with the result of it being hurled across the room, probably to its death. Why I couldn't have easily turned it off manually, I had no idea. Well, actually, I guess I did—any witch or wizard, after reaching the long awaited age of seventeen, will seize any opportunity to use magic. _Even if the situation doesn't really call for it_, I thought, blinking down sleepily at the innocent, silent alarm clock. _Poor thing didn't even see it coming._

Rolling my eyes at myself for giving conscious emotions to an electrical appliance, I shoved myself out of bed.

And then promptly turned into the darkness and Apparated into Petunia's room.

A split second after I could get my bearings straight and observe that I was standing only a few feet away from Petunia's pink lacy bed, and that she had just begun to fall back asleep, the dozing monster itself, roaring bloody murder, shot back with its back pressed up against the wall, knees to its chest, clutching the covers around it.

As much as I would have liked watching Petunia's face grow gradually redder, I decided to vacate the premises. And it was a sensible choice too, because I could swear that at any moment, flames threatened to burst from her still gaping mouth.

I stepped into the shower as Petunia's last, glass-shattering note finally tapered off and subsided into low, fierce growls. Grabbing my strawberry shampoo, I thought about Petunia's future and pitied the fool who would marry her. Given if anyone was actually fool enough to condemn himself to that fate.

I don't normally Apparate unexpectedly into her room, actually. It _is _an invasion of privacy and I wouldn't appreciate it if I was her. But today is a special case. I had already woken in a bad mood. The moment I drifted to consciousness, I was bathed in an abyss of despair. I wouldn't have been surprised to find a dementor hiding in my closet. And the reason is because—as Petunia had so kindly reminded me in her screech-rant—today is Saturday.

The first day of community service with James Potter.

"Mum, it would be so much easier to just fix this situation with magic. And then no more community service," I pleaded hopefully, spreading jam on my toast. I turned to my mother with puppy dog eyes, only to meet her fierce, disapproving ones.

"Yes, Lily, I realize it would be easier. But it wouldn't be right."

Indignant, I swallowed my bite of toast prematurely, bringing tears to my eyes and said, "Oh, come _on_! I didn't even do anything! It was all Potter."

Evidently that didn't matter to her, and she turned back to her coffee. I turned to my father, hidden behind his newspaper, my last resort. I put my hand on his shoulder and he peeked around from behind the Sports section. "Dad, if you just let me do a few memory charms, then—"

"Sorry, sweetie, I'm going to have to side with your mother on this one. You do the crime, you do the time."

I sighed. All hope was lost. I headed for the front door as I finished the last bite of toast and Mum said, "Don't forget to meet the police officer at noon."

I called over my shoulder, "I know, I'm just going to pass the time at Joanna's before then." It was eleven o'clock. I still had some time to spare with my friend before I had to face three hours alone with James.

When I arrived at Joanna's house, I found her sitting at her porch table reading a book. She noticed me coming and called, "Hey, criminal!" I sat next to her and gave a fake laugh.

"Funny. It's amazing how much your taunts lighten my mood."

Joanna laughed. "Sorry. But you should have known this situation is going to earn you a lot of teasing. Might as well throw away your pride now."

"You're probably right," I sighed. "But still, I'd like to think about it as little as possible…oh hey, I forgot to ask you. Who was that blonde kid we saw a few days ago? When we were walking back from seeing Remus."

Joanna's eyes narrowed in confusion. "Blonde kid…?"

"You know, the one in the little white car following the moving van."

"Oh! Yeah, now I remember. No, I don't know who that was, he must be new to town."

"Ah. Well I didn't know if he lived here and was moving away…"

Joanna clasped her hands together and laid her chin on them. "Interested in him?" Her eyebrows raised suggestively and one corner of her mouth lifted in a knowing smile.

"Well maybe," I smiled. "He did look pretty cute." Just then, what sounded like a derisive _Pfft!_ came from…well, out of nowhere. Before I could ask Joanna if she heard it too, out stepped James and Sirius from around the corner of the house. Neither of them looked ashamed in the least that they had both been eavesdropping on the conversation.

"You can't be _serious_, Lily," said James in disbelief.

Sirius rolled his steely grey eyes and sighed as if he were annoyed with the mundane mind of a three-year-old. "Well _duh_, James. _I _am." He knocked on James's head with one hand and pulled on his ear with another. "Anybody in there?" he called.

As James shook Sirius off, Joanna said, "Really, you can only crack so many Sirius jokes until the novelty starts to wear off." Everyone ignored his scandalized expression and James returned to what he believed was the topic of importance.

"Believe me, Lily, that guy is not your type," he said, shaking his head seriously.

"And how would you know that?" I demanded.

"Because he's, um, not me." I scoffed and folded my arms angrily across my chest. After running a hand hastily through his raven hair, he continued, "But really, Lily, why would you want someone with _dimples_?"

"How do you know he has dimples?" I asked.

"Sirius, Remus, and I found out where he lives and we went to welcome him to the neighborhood." There was something about James's would-be innocent expression that seemed a little suspicious.

"Where _is_ Remus anyways?" asked Joanna casually.

Sirius said quickly, "Why do you want to know?"

"Erm—I don't know, I just figured he'd be with you two…" Just then, Remus himself appeared from around the corner of Joanna's house, looking guilty.

"Remus!" I gasped. "Not you too! I would have expected better from you."

Remus cringed. It did look like he had been eavesdropping against his better judgment. "Sorry, Lily, but it was either this or stay at James's house alone." He stared off into space with a haunted expression. "And I'd rather not be left alone with Twiddles."

"Twiddles?" said Joanna curiously.

Sirius sniggered. "The Potters' house elf. She fancies Moony, doesn't she, James?"

"Yeah, she is a bit taken with him. Always offering to make him snacks…" Remus's face reddened.

"Shine his shoes—"

"—wash his clothes—"

"—give him a foot massage."

Everyone took a moment to laugh at Remus's expense as he shyly looked down at his shoes.

"ANYWAYS," said James abruptly, and everyone stopped laughing. "He's a _muggle_, Lily, so you might as well forget about it."

"And what's wrong with muggles?" I said defensively. Of course, I did come from a muggle family and I knew there was nothing wrong with them. Excluding Petunia.

"Nothing, I just think you should stay away from this particular dimpled muggle. I get a bad vibe from him, see." Neither Joanna nor I looked convinced, so James said, with an air of someone dropping the bomb, "Look, his name is _Ben_. And everyone knows you can never trust anyone named Ben."

Sirius nodded fiercely in agreement.

"But it's okay," James continued in a voice that assured he had everything under control, "you should be safe from him. Just as long as _you _stay away from _him_ too." Okay, this was definitely starting to sound fishy. I sprung swiftly from my chair and stalked ever closer to my prey. All three Marauders quailed from my wrath and took a few hasty steps back.

"And what is _that_ supposed to mean, James Potter?" I demanded, my voice low and deadly. I stopped right in front of him so that my eyes, which I knew would be mirroring the burning rage from within, could bore into his.

"N—nothing. Why would that mean anything?" He gave a nervous laugh. His eyes darted down to my lips for a brief second. Leave it to Potter to think he could ever be able to force another kiss out of me in this dire situation.

Remus seemed to recognize the signs of a looming storm and took his chance to step in. This was why he was the smart Marauder.

"Erm…yeah, James kind of threatened him to stay away from you."

James gave a horrified gasp and said, "_Traitor_!", pointing an accusing finger at his friend. But he didn't have long to feel stabbed in the back, because just then he was punched in the stomach. He let out an "Oof!" and his attention was returned to my fury.

"What gives you the right to interfere in my life like that?!"

"Um…how much I care about you?" He pulled his best innocent face.

"Aww," said Sirius in the background.

My wand was hidden in my back pocket. I clenched and unclenched my hand, itching to whip it out and hex him to next November. But there was an old muggle couple walking across the street, and I decided I would feel terrible if I gave them both heart attacks.

Instead, I took a deep breath, turned to Joanna and said, "I'll see you later." As I marched away down the street, I distinctly heard James exclaim, "_Thanks_, Moony!" and Remus reply, "Well she practically knew already."

I was going to go to Ben's house myself and apologize. The only reason I knew where it was at was because I had been on a walk the day before and I had just happened to stumble across it. Sure enough, a few blocks to the north of Potter's house was a pale yellow one with the same moving van and white Honda parked outside it. Some cardboard boxes were still strewn randomly about in the driveway in front of the open garage door.

Ben was bent over a box, his golden hair almost white-blonde in the sunlight. His back was to me, and I decided to call his name from a distance, so as not to startle him.

"Hey Ben!" he looked up from the box and stared around him until he spotted me approaching from behind him.

"Oh, uh, hi!" he called back, obviously surprised. He dropped a pillow back into the box and straightened up as I stopped in front of him. "I don't believe we've met. But apparently you already know my name," he said, extending a hand. He gave a small smile and the dimples popped into existence, one in each cheek. I shook his hand, all too aware of the fluttering sensation taking place in my stomach.

"And you must know my name already. I hear James decided to welcome you to the town with the good old fashioned death threat."

"Actually, he didn't tell me your name. He just told me to stay away from a beautiful girl with red hair if I knew what was good for me." His eyes, which on closer inspection were a deep brown, roved over my hair before settling on my face again.

I felt my cheeks redden. I cursed them mentally. If there was some way of removing blush glands, or whatever they were, I would do it in a heartbeat.

"Well, er—my name is Lily. And don't pay any attention to what James said. He really shouldn't have done that."

"Is he your boyfriend, then?"

"_No_," I said firmly. I noticed his eyebrows raise a little. _Great. If Potter doesn't do the job scaring him off, I'll end up doing it for him._

"Sorry," I said quickly, "it's just that he is definitely not my boyfriend."

"Got it," he said, nodding. Then he added a vague, "That's good." He looked at me and smiled, the dimples making their appearance again. I smiled back.

James's Point of View

I watched sadly as Lily, the love of my life, the apple of my eye, stomped off down the street. I pushed Remus lightly on the shoulder.

"_Thanks_, Moony!"

"Well she practically knew already."

I sighed as I stared after her, half a block away already. Her long red hair swished behind her, shining in the sunlight. Oh how I've always longed to run my hands through it without her ending up displaying her practiced hand at charms work. I had already learned the hard way that merely cutting off a lock of Lily's hair for a keep-sake with a Severing Charm during History of Magic would not work. I had a limp for a few days after that.

I came out of my reverie to hear Joanna say, "_I_ think it was the right thing to do, Remus." She smiled and patted his arm.

Remus smiled back, saying, "I'm glad you think so."

There was a brief pause, and then Sirius threw in, "So, Joanna. That one place that shows moving pictures—"

"The movie theater?" Joanna provided.

"Yes, that. Well, I saw that they're showing the movie about the scary shark that kills people. D'you want to go see it?"

Joanna hesitated, caught off guard. After a slightly uncomfortably silence in which Sirius stared at Joanna and Joanna stared at the ground, she finally said, "Sure. I have nothing else to do today."

Sirius grinned and said, "Great, let's go now! It starts at noon." And without any further ado, he grabbed her hand and they were gone so fast it was almost as if they had Disapparated. I turned to Remus, who was also looking slightly bemused.

"That was weird. I didn't know Sirius fancied Joanna. Did you, Moony?"

Remus ignored the question and said, "Shouldn't you be going too?" His voice sounded oddly gloomy.

"With them?" I pointed a thumb over my shoulder at the now distant figures of Sirius and Joanna. "No thanks, I don't much fancy trying to hear the movie over snogging noises."

"No, I mean it's almost noon. Don't you and Lily have to go mow lawns or…I dunno, help old ladies cross the street?"

"Oh! You're absolutely right, Moony, I bet that Ben kid would love to make Lily late!" As I hurried off in the direction Lily had gone, I could hear Remus sigh and mumble, "At least Twiddles will hang out with me…" Usually I would turn around and spare him some sympathy, but my mind was on a one-way track. I was on a mission.

As I rounded the corner, I had a distant view of Arch Nemesis Number One's house. In front of it was standing said fiend. I could only see a sliver of Lily's hair, as the rest of her was blocked by the muggle. Just then, a terrible possibility occurred to me, unbidden. What if I walked up to them and they were actually kissing?

I tried to push this horrifying thought out of my mind as I skidded to a stop, but had no luck. Now as my heart quickened in my chest, I simultaneously wanted to run back home and rush to Lily's aid and punch the offender in his annoying, dimpled face. Instead I kept walking, at a brisker pace than was normal. _You're being stupid_, I scolded myself. _They're just talking. Don't make yourself look like a fool in front of Lily. Like you always manage to do. _But no matter what I told myself, I could feel the irrational indignation, morphing into jealousy, and then into a wounded pride, and finally progressing into a newly intensified ego. Maybe it was my newfound ability to recognize my alter-ego resurfacing (because I had never been able to before) or maybe it was the fact that I knew Lily was bound to get upset, and I didn't want that. Either way, I managed to beat back the ugly monster that had henceforth ruined every chance I had with Lily before it was too late.

Finally, I was only feet away. And of course, thankfully, they weren't kissing. I was about to chuckle at my rashness when I caught Lily's eye, giving me a scorching look over Ben's shoulder. The laughter died in my throat before it could escape.

Ben hadn't realized I was there. Then again, he probably doesn't realize much._ Stop!_ I reprimanded myself. _Just avoid insulting the kid for the time being. Just act natural. It's what Lily would want…_

"…said that you like biking too? Maybe we could go sometime," he was saying. I almost said _No, you won't be going any time,_ but somehow bit it back. Just then, Arch Nemesis Number One seemed to have noticed that he didn't have Lily's undivided attention, and he turned around to see what was distracting her.

"Erm…sorry for interrupting, but—"

"What do you want, Potter?" Lily was looking furious. I frowned at the renewed use of my surname.

"—but we have to go do our community service," I said with a slightly colder tone. I tapped my watch. "It starts in five minutes."

"Oh, _Merlin!_" In her shock she hurried off without a word to Ben, as the latter said confusedly, "Merlin…?" His voice seemed to bring Lily back to Earth, and she turned back around.

"Sorry, Ben, I—we—have to go. I'll see you later, okay?" As she said it, a very disconcerting shadow crossed his face, darkening his eyes from brown to black. Lily didn't seem to notice. She had been waiting impatiently for me and must have decided I wasn't moving fast enough, because she closed her hand over my wrist, and dragged me off at a speed I could never have imagined possible from her. As trees and bushes flashed past in green blurs, I just tried to keep myself from tripping over protruding cracks in the sidewalk. As much as I liked the feeling of her skin on mine, I was a bit more worried about not tripping and doing a face-plant right in front of her.

"Lily! Lily, stop running! We could—probably get there—in about two minutes—if we just walk quickly!" I panted. _Wow, are you kidding me?_ I made a mental note to suggest some Quidditch practice to Padfoot and Moony. Lily's pace finally slowed to a fast walk. But her hand hadn't left mine yet.

I looked down and said, "But we can still hold hands though."

Lily looked down too and pulled her hand away as if mine was all of a sudden on fire. Typical.

As we practically jogged to the town square where we would meet the police officer, Lily still a few paces in front of me, the dark look on Ben's face drifted to the surface of my mind. I knew I hadn't been imagining things either. It wasn't a trick of the eye. And, believe it or not, I wasn't just looking for more reasons to dislike him now that his interest in Lily was obvious.

There was something definitely wrong with this kid. And I would find out what, if it was the last thing I did.


End file.
